Prepare your delivered access details
Open My proxies in your ProxyCrest account after delivery. Note the protocol, host, port and username. The values below are deliberately fictional: proxy.example is not a ProxyCrest gateway, and this test has not been validated on a provider network.
Make a short request
Set a connection timeout and a maximum duration so the test cannot hang indefinitely. Supplying only the username to --proxy-user allows curl to prompt for the password interactively. Do not publish screenshots containing credentials, and check the behavior of your curl version before building an automated integration.
curl --proxy http://proxy.example:8080 \
--proxy-user YOUR_USERNAME \
--connect-timeout 10 --max-time 30 \
https://example.com/Read the result
An HTTP response means you received a response along this path, but a 200 status proves neither the country nor the content is correct. Check the expected response body on your test endpoint. A 407 error points to proxy authentication; a DNS or connection error needs investigation before considering the rules of the target website.
Move from a test to an integration
After the first successful request, add a small, representative workflow and measure total time, errors and transferred data. Use secret management for automation. Do not paste detailed traces containing authentication headers into a support ticket: provide a redacted diagnostic instead.
Frequently asked questions
Why use --proxy-user rather than --user?
--proxy-user supplies proxy authentication. --user applies to the destination server; the two options serve different purposes.
Can I replace HTTP with SOCKS5?
Only if the access you receive and your client support it. Use the corresponding scheme and port; do not simply change the text without checking.